One that starts from Battipaglia for graduate in business administration economics and management atLuiss Guido Carli University of Rome, which after a master's degree at London School of Economics he starts working in the consultancy and financial services sector in Rome and Milan and can legitimately aspire to international financial horizons, to great scenarios on both sides of the ocean.
But for Gaetano Rago, 26 years old, America was and is here, or rather in the beautiful plain of Battipaglia on the northern edge of the Piana del Sele, home of the Mozzarella di Bufala but above all a land blessed by a particular microclimate whereby whatever is grown has extraordinary intensity and flavour. She had already guessed it in 1858 Ferdinand of Bourbon king of the Two Sicilies when he started the reclamation for the exploitation of these alluvial lands of the Piana del Sele, according to the dictates of the Baron Giacomo Savarese an undisputed authority in the field of reclamation, facilitating the arrival of families affected by the earthquake from Basilicata and the province of Principato Citeriore for whom he built a series of agricultural residences.
After 160 years, where there were alluvial soils today a new one has formed modern and competitive agro-entrepreneurship in the first, second and third range horticultural supply chain. But who excels especially in the fourth range ready-to-eat fruit and vegetables. fresh fruit and vegetables, washed, dried, cut, packed in trays or plastic bags in a controlled or modified atmosphere. an important production pole that exports all over the world.
Gaetano Rago is the direct emanation of this enlightened entrepreneurship. Not just because it comes from one family that owns one of the model companies most important in the whole area, and in all of Italy, the Rago Group, 250 hectares of crops with futuristic methods, a prestigious client portfolio, al second place in Europe per quantity of rocket exported, a turnover that borders on 40 million euros, but because it embodies the cultural and entrepreneurial assumptions that have marked the success of this area in recent years, where, alongside large entrepreneurial realities, about 3 thousand companies (agricultural and processing) with an employment of 9 thousand people about, who realize a annual turnover of 2, 5 bln (in constant growth of 15% per year), 30% abroad.
Therefore, moving from the London School of economics to engaging in the family business in Battipaglia is far from reductive, it is exactly the opposite, it is equivalent to accepting the challenge of an entrepreneurial development logic of international dimensions which will have to be measured with choices not only economic but also ethical and social. .
“Since I was a child – he admits – I have dreamed of being an entrepreneur, not necessarily an agricultural entrepreneur in the family business, but an entrepreneur in general. He has always fascinated me with being able to organize production factors and get as much out of them as possible, to generate something important ”. His myth was Steve Jobs "emblematic and sensational figure of a precursor of the modern era and even the young Gaetano cultivated a dream "not only of being an entrepreneur, but an entrepreneur who manages to create something great, for himself, but above all , for others. They come to mind examples such as Adriano Olivetti, But also as Ferrero, home-grown realities that have been able to create an ecosystem around them that has generated well-being for the company, but also for all related industries and the areas where they developed”.
I don't know at this point it became clear what this young man is made of who does not hide behind economic-technological lexical constructions, who passes naturally from Italian to English and vice versa, who does not weigh his status and his training . In short, behind this apparatus of entrepreneurial culture there is a human being and he always refers to the humanity of his neighbor, it is no coincidence that he often mentions Olivetti, the great Olivetti who should be studied in school for his responsible teachings. ” Dream – he adds – of ccreate a value chain, a sustainable supply chain, for the environment, socially and also of course economically. I believe that this can be done, not only with entrepreneurial but also financial tools and with the help and support of the institutions”.
This translates into an entrepreneurial philosophy that aims at an innovative approach to doing business, which puts people and the environment at the centre. ”We often talk about a new Green Deal – he continues – and the attention that is now paid to eco-sustainability issues. As far as the environment is concerned, I am therefore speaking of eco-sustainable ways of being able to generate value. Nature and the environment as a whole are an invaluable asset for us and as an agricultural entrepreneur, I am even more aware of it. We can often think that we don't respect the environment. Instead, I believe that agriculture is its main ally, we who live in contact with nature every day, are grateful to it, because thanks to its fruits we can create business and generate value, for ourselves and for our families”. But respect also concerns third parties in Gaetano Rago's speech. “In these difficult times we can better appreciate the human relations, especially because we have been deprived of them by the pandemic period, which has deprived us of moments with the dearest affections, but also of a simple handshake or a hug from a friend. It is people who create businesses, they are made primarily by the organization of personnel and subsequently by the use of it with other production factors. I strongly believe in one Strong Corporate Social Responsibility, both internally and externally”.
In practice, according to his philosophy which to tell the truth sounds unusual for the traditional industrial world, the company must take care of the environment that surrounds the company or the habitat, the people, the ecosystem. But it is up to the company to take care of the intrinsic resources. It is from the optimal conjugation of these two philosophies that a strong competitive advantage can arise, "but also a strong bond that makes the company more resistant during negative economic moments such as the one we are experiencing".
Illusory claims, Utopia? Of course not, in the Rago di Battipaglia Group these principles have found wide application: between 2019 and the beginning of 2020 the company did major investments in innovation and automation of production processes. Latest generation optical scanners and coring machines were purchased, which automated, speeded up and increased the quality of the process. “In the face of these investments – the young Rago underlines with satisfaction – in 2020 the workforce could have been reduced by around 20%, thus also generating a strong reduction in an important cost item. However, in the company, we in the family have made a decision, sometimes even courageous, to not wanting to reduce manpower in any way, indeed we even recorded a small increase. This was done from an investment point of view, real. We decided that despite the investments already made, the moment among the worst experienced so far, it was possible to find a way to do this even in an economically sustainable way. We have therefore reorganized the staff, creating a much more specialized workforce and new functions not previously present. In this way we have kept every single person and have increased the skills and abilities of our workers. I'll tell you more, the production KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) prove us completely right”.
From the human approach we then move on to the industrial approach and here instead of talking to a fruit and vegetable entrepreneur it seems to be catapulted into a NASA experimental center where the possibilities of plant life on Mars are being studied.
Among the various projects carried out in recent times for the responsible qualitative improvement of the product and the environment, it is worth mentioning a very innovative system of Vertical Farming with which it will be possible for the same m2 with the soil to have a higher yield, but with a much lower use of the means of production. To be concrete, the same results are obtained with about 90% less land (mainly substrates are used), saving over 95% of water. In addition to this, the group can now boast of using completely clean energy, based on 100% green energy and on a huge owned photovoltaic system. And when it comes to green energy, it should be remembered that a recent survey estimated that a total conversion to green energy in Italy would save as much as 6.500 euros a year per citizen and would allow the avoidance of 40 premature deaths caused by pollution by increasing, moreover , employment with the creation of over half a million new jobs.
As stated in Battipaglia we are already thinking about the future and Gaetano Rago is personally involved in this branch of activity: "We are carrying out - he says - variety trials both in the field and in the Vertical Farm, in search of what in the business world would be defined as "The next big thing" (term used mainly in the so-called Big Tech world).
We are talking about Red Aztec, Mesoamerican vegetable that recalls quinoa which provides sweet seeds and edible leaves rich in chlorophyll, Purple Rain, a cabbage native to southern China and southeast Asia whose spoon-shaped leaves are purple in color and have a mild, Komatsu a widespread biennial cultivar of turnip in Japan Malachai. Exotic names with which we are destined to familiarize ourselves in the future.
But Gaetano Rago's corporate realm is technological innovation, experimentation with new green means and machinery, the digitization of processes, the expansion andoptimization of the use of IT tools such as weather stations, automatic probes, automated irrigation and SmarTrack management software.
In short, the baby leaf chapter which today, especially in times of Covid, has had an exceptional market development, concerns the past. In Battipaglia the Ragos are already deciding what we will eat and how.
